


the run and go

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Ensemble Cast, F/M, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-08 01:17:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4285176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"But see, while Jason was pretty reasonable, he wasn’t so good with the whole priorities thing- he’d been trained and all, but he was pretty sure it came with the ADHD. Or maybe he’d just been spending too much time around the Greeks.</p><p>So when he caught sight of an incredibly disheveled Nico di Angelo turning the corner across the busy street out of the corner of his eye, he kind of mixed up his priorities a little."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. don't wanna hand you all my trouble

 

 

Jason Grace liked to pride himself on being a reasonable guy.

Constant monster fights, yeah. Rushing to save the world, sure. But still reasonable.

So when their ‘sort of not really quite a friend but I’d totally wanna be friends if you’re up for it or stayed in one place for more than three minutes at a time’ shows up out of nowhere just across the street after almost six months with no contact, any reasonable guy would assess the situation calmly and properly react, any reasonable guy would have his priorities straight.

But see, while Jason was pretty reasonable, he wasn’t so good with the whole priorities thing- he’d been trained and all, but he was pretty sure it came with the ADHD. Or maybe he’d just been spending too much time around the Greeks.

So when he caught sight of an incredibly disheveled Nico di Angelo turning the corner across the busy street out of the corner of his eye, he kind of mixed up his priorities a little. The bag of groceries he was sent to get took a nasty fall and spilled out all over the ground. He took a few thoughtless steps into the previously mentioned _busy_ street. Before he could stop himself or think of anything better to say, he called out, “ _Nico?”_ sharply and clearly.

Probably-Nico froze mid-step, and his head shot in Jason’s direction, eyes wide. Time caught up with Jason and he jerked out of the way of a car honking its horn at him full-blast, jumping back on the sidewalk and barely avoiding being hit- the other demigod looked torn between being worried and laughing and yeah, that was definitely Nico. He hadn’t seen the guy in half a year, but he looked practically the same: same jacket, same almost award-worthy messy hair, same jumpy fingers, same anxious look in his bagged eyes. He looked a bit healthier though, Jason was surprised to see. His skin wasn’t as sickly, he wasn’t as ‘stick thin and about to drop’, he didn’t seem quite as tired.

He did seem kinda dirty though. His jeans were a little torn, there were flecks of dirt across his face and clothes, one of his hands was pressed to his opposite shoulder, where there was a rip in the jacket that probably cut through to the skin and now that he thought about it the kid was limping a bit too and… oh.

He started forward again, this time glancing here and there before darting straight into traffic. When Nico saw, his eyes widened again- he wasn’t sure if that was surprise or dread- and he started hurrying in the direction he was headed before.

“Wait, what are-“ he cut himself off as Nico disappeared around the corner at the same moment he made it to the other side of the street. Jason rushed after him, almost running into a few people (the sidewalks should really be bigger, he thought as he threw an apology over his shoulder) before he pinpointed the dark mass of hair in the mess of people.

Nico was slipping between people, twisting and turning effortlessly through the crowd, even with a bad leg- no one seemed to give him much thought, and if they did, it was just to glance at him apprehensively and shuffle a few inches away. Luckily for Jason, the kid stood out easily- a small dot of black in the sea of colors. He looked completely out of his element, though Jason wondered if Nico even _had_ an element. The battlefield probably. Which Jason honestly found to be a little sad, considering how _young_ he was; he often forgot the fearsome son of Hades was a few years younger than him. There was also the Underworld, or maybe a graveyard, but that was even worse to think about. He wondered if there was any place bright and full of life that the son of Hades would ever feel at home in.

Just as he thought he’d lost sight of him, Nico ducked into one of the buildings along the right. Jason followed- it was a little Walmart, he noticed, the old, vaguely shady kind that you avoided in favor of the nicer, newer ones.

There weren’t very many people inside, so it only took him a moment or two to _finally_ catch up. He found Nico near the back, shuffling through the tiny, poorly stocked first aid section.

“ _Found_ you,” Jason said, trying to catch his breath discreetly, and Nico nearly jumped, the small roll of gauze he’d been holding falling out of his hands.

He quickly composed himself, hand coming back up to clutch at his shoulder as he regarded the older demigod warily. He seemed to be considering whether or not to try and run- they both knew that wouldn’t go over smoothly. Eventually, though, Nico sighed.

“Jason,” he greeted carefully.

“Nico,” he greeted back, not really liking the stiffness in Nico’s voice, or the way he was holding himself almost protectively. As far as he knew, they were on pretty much friendly terms- which with Nico meant protecting you in battle and sometimes talking to you without being overly cautious. And also leaving for a few months before you or anyone had the chance to stop him after he spent a few days in the infirmary, both as promised.

Honestly, Jason had beat himself up a lot the past few months- he should’ve taken Nico’s promise more seriously, should’ve been there to talk him out of it, should’ve tried to help him a little bit more. Sure, he’d known it was a possibility, but he had hoped traveling with Reyna and spending a few days with he and Hazel and the others would convince him to stay. He’d been wrong, obviously. A few days later, he’d said a quick goodbye to Hazel, mentioned something about leaving to a half-asleep Jason the night before, and he’d been off.

Just when he thought he’d made progress with the kid, he disappeared.

They’d searched, Jason probably the most, seconded closely by Hazel, but he’d cut off IM connections and had mastered the art of staying far far away from either camp. He was pretty sure he occasionally IM’d Hazel, but that was it.

There were about thirty or so things Jason wanted to say to him- _where have you been? Why the hell did you leave in the first place? What have you been doing? Don’t you know how much I’ve- we’ve all been worried about you? Does Hazel know where you are? Why didn’t you let me talk you out of it? Why are you so insistent on being alone?_

Instead of any of those, he went with the much safer question of, “Are you hurt?”

Which was, in retrospect, a pretty stupid question.

But of course, Nico responded with a small, “I’m fine,”

Which was obviously complete bullshit. The kid could barely stay on his feet; he was swaying dangerously.

Jason sighed, “No, you’re not.” He ignored Nico glare and bent down to pick up the fallen gauze; Nico snatched it away.

Nico grabbed a few boxes of Band-Aids (because those were definitely going to help), another roll or two of gauze, a bottle of water, and some disinfectant. Jason noticed with concern that the fabric around the tear in his shoulder was staining dark red, and what he could see of the skin was just as bad.

“I’m _fine_ ,” he insisted again, pointedly not meeting Jason’s eyes. Jason didn’t fail to notice the way his arms shook or the way he almost lost his hold on the boxes in his left hand. Jason took a small bottle of painkillers to add to the list, and followed Nico as he hobbled towards the check out line.

The son of Hades didn’t say anything when Jason set the bottle down on the pile, but stopped him with a cold hand on his arm when he took out his wallet. He watched as Nico dug around in his pocket and handed the cashier a twenty-dollar bill. If the man behind the register was fazed by a half-conscious teenager bleeding from a shoulder wound and buying too much medical supplies, he didn’t mention it.

“What happened to you?” Jason asked anxiously, once they were back outside.

Nico shrugged, wincing slightly at the movement, “Gryphon attack. Got my shoulder.”

Jason snorted, taking the bag from Nico’s hand (he was vaguely reminded of why he was out in the city in the first place- he wondered whether or not the apples had been stepped on by now) before he could accidentally drop it or something.

“I can see that,”

“It’s not that bad,” he mumbled back.

Jason dropped his gaze down to the shoulder in mention. It looked worse than it had a few minutes ago.

“Looks pretty bad to me,” he said, not bothering to hide the worry in his voice. He’d seen small wounds turn into big problems plenty of times.

Nico shrugged again- and winced again, muttering something under his breath that sounded a lot like, ‘ _gotta stop doing that,_ ’ before responding with, “I’ve had worse.”

Jason paused. He wondered how many times Nico had done this before, gotten himself hurt and patched himself up with cheap Walmart supplies. It wasn’t a pleasant thought. Four years and endless threats- a ten or eleven year old Nico ripping off ends of gauze with his teeth in an alley and trying not to cry or sticking one too many bandages over a slice that probably needed stitches or- he stopped before his imagination could run away with him.

Nico picked up on his hesitation and blew a stray piece of hair out of his eyes. “Point is, I’m _fine,_ Jason.”

“Are you sure? Couldn’t you shadow-travel to camp or something and get it looked at?”

Nico scowled at the mention of camp, “Can’t, actually.”

“What’d you mean?”

“The attack earlier took too much out of me; no Underworld-y stuff for a while.”

Jason blinked, “Oh,”

“Yeah,”

Before Jason could open his mouth to respond, Nico stepped sideways into an alley- very similar to the kind Jason had just been thinking about. Instead of stopping there, though, Nico walked through to the other side and sat down heavily on the bench of a small park Jason didn’t know existed.

The son of Jupiter sat down next to him, wincing himself as Nico began to take off his jacket- it clung to the skin around the wound, and Jason could almost feel the sting himself. After a few moments’ struggle, Nico managed to shake it off of him and pull up the sleeve of his shirt. Turns out, the jacket had been covering most of the damn thing. It was a long, semi-deep gash stretching horizontally along from the far edge of his collarbone to his upper arm.

“ _Gods,_ Nico,” was all he managed to say. All those years training and battling really should’ve prepared him for this sort of thing- he’d seen quite a bit of it already. But it always struck him hard, a small reminder that hey, these things are actually dangerous, this lifestyle literally kills.

Nico let out a huff of breath that might have been an attempt at a laugh, “Chill, Grace, it’s not gonna kill me.”

Jason frowned. Even in the brief time he’d spent with him, he’d learned that Nico only called him ‘ _Grace_ ’ when he was angry, purposely being intimidating, or trying to maintain control of the situation and/or himself. He suspected it was the third one, this time around.

Nico managed to get the cap off the water bottle with one hand, and poured it carefully over the wound, trying to clean it out. Jason rummaged around the Walmart bag and pulled out the disinfectant.

“Here,” he offered, “Do you want me to-?”

“I can do it,” Nico cut him off, taking it from his outstretched hand and prying it open. He hissed sharply as it came into contact with the injury. Jason gritted his teeth; he hated seeing people in pain, no matter how little.

So when Nico started stretching out the line of gauze with trembling hands, he had to cut in.

“Grace,“ he protested weakly, trying and failing to yank it away from him, “Cut it out, I know how to do it,”

“I know you do,” Jason agreed carefully, “But right now you’re just gonna hurt yourself more if you keep trying. It’s okay to accept help every now and then, you know,”

Nico scowled half-heartedly, looking at him cautiously, like he was worried what would happen if he accepted the help. He really needed to wrap his head around the idea of people being nice to him with no ulterior motives, Jason thought- almost sadly.

He offered up a small smile and Nico rolled his eyes.

“Fine,” he gave in, slumping against the bench with a sigh.

Jason made quick and careful work of wrapping up his shoulder. Neither of them talked- Jason too focus on not messing up and not hurting Nico, and Nico too focused on biting his lip to keep any sounds of pain from escaping.

This was probably the closest he’d been to the son of Hades, not counting the hug or any close contact in battle. He took time to fully take in his appearance; he really was looking better than the last time he’d seen him, healthier- you know, other than the gaping wound on his left shoulder. By the time he was done, Nico seemed almost relaxed, eyes shut and breathing steady.

His eyes fluttered open quickly at the loss of contact when Jason pulled away. There was a pause as he looked over Jason’s work- he looked almost impressed, and the thought made the son of Jupiter unreasonably proud of himself.

“Thank you,” Nico said slowly, glancing up and meeting his eyes for probably only the second or third time since he’d caught up with him.

Jason smiled. “No problem,”

The son of Hades pushed himself to his feet, almost stumbling when he tried to put weight on his right foot.

“What happened to your leg?” Jason asked, doing the same.

Nico grunted vaguely, “’Dunno, probably sprained my ankle or something. It’ll be fine,”

“Are you sure?”

“What are you doing out here, anyway?” Nico asked, abruptly changing the subject.

Ah, yes. Groceries. He’d have to go get some more groceries. And try not to drop them in surprise this time.

“Groceries. Piper asked me to pick some up. We’re having a few people over for dinner tonight, and she wanted to try something new.”

Nico nodded, “You two live together?” he seemed almost regretful of the question as soon as he asked it, like he wasn’t sure he was allowed to ask.

Jason smiled again, reassuringly, “Not officially, or anything. I decided to buy my own place a few miles outside of camp to test the waters. She stays there sometimes.”

Nico nodded again, “That’s really nice,” he said, and it didn’t sound like the necessary politeness when you don’t know how to respond. He said it genuinely.

“You know, you’re always welcome to stay the night if you need to.”

The son of Hades stiffened, shaking his head quickly. “No. No, I… thank you for the offer, but I should get going.”

“What? But you just got here.”

Nico raised an eyebrow, “And now I’m leaving.”

“But,” Jason hesitated, “You could come back with me- to camp. To see Hazel, or Reyna and them.” He was very adamant on not mentioning Percy’s name, “Just for a while.”

Nico shook his head resignedly, like he knew this was coming. He probably did; maybe that’s why he tried to get away from him at first.

“I’m not going back to camp, Jason.” He ran his good hand through his hair, “I don’t want to. I said I was leaving.”

“Yeah, but-“

“I’m _not_ going back.” Nico cut in sharply, “Leave it alone.”

Jason sighed, “Fine, alright.”

He didn’t get it, didn’t get why Nico couldn’t see that people cared about him, that they wanted him around. But he also sort of did get it, sort of understood that the kid had never felt particularly welcome there before, that he didn’t want to risk anything else. His life hadn’t exactly been a walk in the park, even by demigod standards.

“Just… be safe, Nico.”

Nico’s face lit up in surprise. Jason smiled, a little bit sadly. 

The son of Hades nodded. “You too,”

And with that, he looped his hand through the bag and turned away, throwing a hand over his shoulder in goodbye and disappearing into the crowd.

 

 

A few hours later found he, Piper, Reyna, Hazel and Frank sitting around the table. The three of them were visiting from Camp Jupiter- perfect timing, really. Jason didn’t have to IM them to tell them about his day. 

The look on Hazel’s face- a mixture of surprise and sadness and hope and concern when he told her about her brother’s injuries- was enough to help him decide: he was going to find Nico di Angelo and convince him he had a home, even if it meant risking his life in the process.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh i have no idea how to treat a flesh wound 
> 
> also i have no real reason for this other than the fact that i've had some of these and upcoming conversations stuck in my head for forever and i had nowhere to put them???
> 
> and i also wanted to explore more of the 'nico leaving' stuff again- like i love the fact that he decided to stay, but i really want to test out how their relationship would play out if he hadn't
> 
> will probably be updated fairly quickly, and it won't be super long


	2. don't wanna give you all my pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He wanted to convince the kid that he did have friends, he had people who loved him, cared about him, people who he could call home. He realized with a start that he sort of wanted to be one of those people.
> 
> He wasn’t entirely sure what to do with that thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is dialogue

 

 

Alright, so maybe he should’ve thought this through a little bit more. Maybe he should’ve taken a good hard look over every scenario that might unfold and seen that almost all of them would end badly. Maybe he should’ve just left Nico alone like he’d told him to.

But hey, Jason helped people. He’d been raised to, trained to, and he _liked_ to- it was basically natural to him. He helped people, and if anyone needed help, it was Nico di Angelo.

That wasn’t to say he was incapable of helping himself, wasn’t to say he was someone low that needed to be pitied. Jason didn’t pity him, necessarily- all right, so maybe he did a little. But the kid had gone through so much and gained so little, and no matter how hard he tired, Jason couldn’t forget the look on Nico’s face when he’d finally admitted his secret in Croatia, couldn’t forget how scared and angry and _raw_ he’d been. He wasn’t supposed to see that, no one was supposed to see that- Jason was an unwitting trespasser, and he wondered if on some level Nico hated him for it.

So yeah, maybe he pitied him a little. But he also empathized with him. He didn’t think he was doing the world a favor or anything, and he wasn’t just doing this because it was _‘necessary’_ , he wasn’t just doing it out of pity. It was the right thing to do. He cared about the kid. He wanted him to have a happy ending. And he was pretty sure roaming a world full of monsters alone with nothing but a sword and some Walmart supplies was not the ending Nico deserved. He wondered if Nico thought the same. 

 

“So, how do you find someone who doesn’t want to be found?”

“Someone who can also disappear into the shadows at any given moment?”

“Yeah.”

Piper pursed her lips in thought, leaning back on her chair. Jason had to admit, he had chosen a pretty nice apartment. Piper had helped pick it out- a small, out of the way building a few miles outside of camp. If any monsters decided to bother him here, few people would be in danger, and besides, the view was actually a pretty good one. It was close enough that he could go to and from Camp Half-Blood easily- he’d barely made a dent in the number of shrines and temples he planned to build. He was keeping his promise, no matter how long it took him (and it was going to take him a very long time- the number of minor gods and goddess without proper respect given to them was ridiculous).

He had a really nice neighbor too- a kind old woman in her sixties, who had given him a container of cookies when he’d first moved in. Granted, she really couldn’t cook (the cookies were stale and tasted vaguely of sawdust), but it was an appreciated gesture. She sent over more at least once a week. He didn’t have the heart to tell her they were horrible.

Eventually, Piper shrugged, “I honestly don’t know. You have no idea where he is, right?”

Jason nodded. “He could be literally anywhere right now. Shadow travel is cool and all, but it can be really frustrating.”

Piper shot him a small apologetic smile. He knew she didn’t really understand why he was going to such great lengths with this, but she was supportive nonetheless.

“You could always ask Percy, I guess,” she suggested, “Or Hazel. She might have an idea, if he’s been keeping in touch with her at all.”

Jason wasn’t entirely sure he had been, if her reaction a few nights before was anything to go by. He was a bit more hesitant to ask Percy about it- he didn’t think Nico would be particularly thrilled if he decided to join in (though he wasn’t gonna be happy about the whole thing anyway). 

“Worth a shot.” He agreed.

 

He ran into Percy first. Literally. He was jogging the next day to catch Hazel before she left to travel back to New Rome, and probably should’ve been looking where he was going.

“Nico, huh?” Percy was still rubbing the back of his head, which Jason knew didn’t hurt _that_ much.

“Yeah, I thought maybe you knew something that could help?”

“I’d like to say I do, but,” Percy shrugged, eyebrows drawn up in concentration, “I have no idea how you’d track him down or anything. He just… shows up when he wants to, y’know?”

Jason hummed in agreement. He did know. It was getting exceedingly frustrating.

“I’ve known him for years, but we’re hardly close. He barely ever gave me the time of day after the whole Titan War, but… I guess I did the same.” He glanced up, grinning guiltily, “Thought he hated me up until, you know, he _told_ me everything. I was _super_ surprised to be honest, but I guess it kinda makes sense?”

Jason shrugged. It felt a bit wrong to admit, but he was a little bit _glad_ Percy was feeling guilty about the whole thing. About time, too. He wondered if the time for apologies and acknowledgement was overdue, if it was a little too late to make everything up. He hoped not. He hoped Nico was willing to give everything another chance, maybe give Percy another chance, even if he and the camp had never done very much for him in the first place.

“Anyway,” Percy continued, rubbing the back of his head again, “There’s always the Underworld, but you do _not_ wanna go there, dude.”

“It probably won’t come to that,” Jason assured, because he wasn’t too keen on the idea of visiting a realm full of dead people and getting a glance at the beyond, “hopefully.”

Percy raised an eyebrow, shaking his head, “Not a good idea. And I’m like, the king of bad ideas.” He smiled, “Hazel’s your best bet, though. She’ll know about all the Underworld stuff better than I do.”

Jason nodded, though he couldn’t help being a bit bothered by the fact that the other didn’t offer to help search. Maybe he knew Nico wouldn’t approve, or maybe he still felt the need to give him space. Or maybe Nico was still an afterthought to him.

He really had to stop thinking so negatively, he mentally chided himself; Percy had a lot on his plate, and he’d be going back to school in a few days.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Good luck, man,” Percy clapped a hand on his shoulder, “Bring him home, okay?”

  

Hazel, as he’d hoped, did know a great deal more about ‘all the Underworld stuff’. But she was just as adamant on him _not_ going there.

“I don’t think he’s down there right now, anyways.” She said hesitantly. “I’m not sure exactly how I know, but I just… do?”

She shuffled around the Hades cabin, collecting the few belongings she’d brought with her and packing them away neatly. She liked to stay here in the cabin when she visited- it helped her feel closer to Nico, she’d told him once, knowing that he sometimes stayed here too. That, and it gave her a lot more privacy than sleeping in the Big House would.

“The last time we talked- maybe two months ago? -he said Dad was sending him on a monster-hunting _spree_. I hadn’t seen him that exhausted in a while.” The concern was evident in her tone, “I doubt he’s finished yet. And new monsters always seem to pop up.”

Jason could feel the fatigue in her voice. A war had come and gone and there were still never-ending threats. Sure, they’d defeated the worst of it, but people still got hurt and lives still got ruined. It made them all wonder what good all their efforts had done.

“If he was around here a few days ago, it was probably for Dad.”

The way Hazel threw around the word ‘Dad’ so easily, referencing the great and terrifying lord of the dead, was almost funny. And a little off putting.

“So he might still be in the area?” Jason asked hopefully.

Hazel shrugged, “Maybe. If he is, he’s following the monsters, so-“

“Find the monsters, and I find him,” Jason finished.

“Mm-hm,” she shut her little suitcase with a snap. When she met his eyes, her own were sad and slightly conflicted. “I haven’t seen him in forever, Jason. And he’s hurt. And I really wanna help, but…” she trailed off.

“But you’re busy. You have duties at camp. I get it,” he said softly, “And I’m sure Nico does too.”

Her lips lifted into a slight smile, “I know. But still, make sure he’s okay.”

Jason smiled back, “I will,”

“And don’t be afraid to use my name to get him to come back, 

He couldn’t help but laugh, “I’m definitely planning on it.”

 

What he wasn’t planning on was the whole thing taking so damn long.

He didn’t want to make a big deal about it, so he only told Annabeth, Reyna, and of course Percy and Hazel (and by default, Frank) already knew about it. He didn’t know how long he’d be gone, so he packed a small bag stocked full of food, water, and some ambrosia, strapped his gladius to his back, said goodbye to Piper, and headed off- not entirely sure of where he was going.

Wandering through the rest of the city with no sign of Nico took a few days, searching the outlaying area took a few more, and flying over everything took a solid three hours. It was almost troubling how many ancient mythological creatures were just _there,_ right under everybody’s nose, making their way in the mortal world. Dangerous and not dangerous ones alike.

He wondered vaguely how many times they’d all reformed. He decided that was a pretty unsettling thought.

He wasn’t planning to find the kid he’d been looking for- for a _week and a half_ \- sitting against a tree in the middle of a forest he’d entered on a whim (he’d seen the silhouette of something with more than one leg wander in not too long ago), sword propped up next to him with his jacket hanging from the hilt, devouring a McDonalds burger like the world was ending.

He also wasn’t planning on nearly being decapitated when a twig snapped under his feet. Nico probably had quicker reflexes than _he_ did, and he’d had over twelve years of training.

“ _Gods,”_ Jason breathed, once Nico had realized who it was and lowered his sword, an embarrassed look on his face, “You scared me,”

“ _You_ scared _me,”_ the younger retorted.

Jason could only shrug- it wasn’t like he didn’t understand Nico’s jumpiness. Reflexes saved lives.

The son of Hades regarded him for a moment, glancing behind him for a second to see if there was anyone else with him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked finally.

“Looking for you,” Jason replied simply.

Nico’s eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly schooled his expression, “Why?”

“To bring you back.”

The all too familiar scowl spread across Nico’s face, “I thought I told you, I’m not going back to camp.”

“But-“

“I _told_ you,” he said slowly, “To leave me alone.”

Jason had known this wouldn’t be easy, but he had forgotten how _intimidating_ the son of Hades could be when provoked. And how easy it was to provoke him.

“Why?” Jason asked.

“What?”

“Why do you want to be out here all by yourself?”

Nico’s scowl deepened, if possible, “I don’t belong there, Jason. You know that.”

“I don’t, actually. I think if you gave it a chance, you could belong. No wants you gone.”

The younger demigod laughed humorlessly; it was a startling sound, “ _Right._ Because uneasy glances right after I brought a giant damn statue halfway across the Earth just _scream_ acceptance.”

“There might be few glances, yeah,” Jason agreed, “But only from a few people. Everyone’s grateful for what you did, Nico.”

Nico snorted, but didn’t say anything. There were a few moments of heavy silence, and he glared at Jason, his gaze boring into him. He still hadn’t put his sword down, and Jason was no doctor, but his shoulder looked like it needed to be re-wrapped and probably cleaned again.

“Why do you care, anyway?” he grumbled defensively.

“You deserve better than this,” Jason said softly, “You deserve better than wandering around alone. I want to help yo-“ wrong choice of words, he realized as he stopped himself, definitely wrong choice of words.

Nico bristled angrily, head shooting up and eyebrows knitting together. Jason had forgotten how easily the other descended into anger too, “Have you ever considered the fact that I might not want your _help?”_

“That’s not what I meant-”

“Then what exactly did you _mean?”_ he spat, voice unsteady, “I’m not some charity case, Grace.”

Jason raised his hands in protest, “I never said you were,”

“Then why are you treating me like one?” Nico shot back, hands clenching into fists and shit, this was taking a wrong turn incredibly quickly.

“I’m not-“ Jason took a quick breath, “I just want to be your friend, Nico.”

And that seemed to throw Nico in for a loop; the scowl dropped off of his face and the tension left his body- only to flood back in full force a moment later, his expression unreadable.

He sighed, deeply and tiredly, “You don’t want to be friends with me,” he said quietly.

 Jason blinked, not quite sure how to take the sudden change in demeanor.

“Of course I do,” he said slowly, surely.

Nico shook his head, “No, you don’t. People like you don’t wanna…” he paused, taking a moment to think on his next words, “I just don’t want your pity, okay? I was surprised you wanted me to stay in the first place. You’re a good guy and all, you know? But I don’t want you to feel the need to get all buddy-buddy with me just because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Jason couldn’t help feeling a bit insulted at the assumption.

And then a little ashamed at feeling insulted. He doubted anyone had approached him like this before. He wanted to convince the kid that he _did_ have friends, he had people who loved him, cared about him, people who he could call home. He realized with a start that he sort of wanted to be one of those people.

He wasn’t entirely sure what to do with that thought.

“You’re right,” the son of Jupiter started, and he didn’t miss the flash of hurt that crossed Nico’s face, like a part of him wanted Jason to disagree, “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I shouldn’t have seen that, and he,” (he didn’t have to say a name, he knew Nico knew who he was talking about from the way the his eyebrows drew up in anger again), “shouldn’t have done that to you. It was unfair, and it was wrong.”

Jason caught Nico’s eye, staring through the glare he was tempted to look away from. Nico dropped his gaze first.

“But that’s not why I want to be your friend.” Jason’s gaze softened, “I want to be your friend because you’re kind of badass, you know that?”

Nico blinked, “What?”

“Like, I’ve never seen someone that good with a sword before.” He continued, grinning at the son of Hades’ bewilderment, “And sure, you can be scary when you want to be, but you’re a nice guy. I mean, you risked your life to save everyone, and barely batted an eye at the danger of it all. Super reckless by the way, but it worked.”

Nico’s bewilderment was shifting into something like embarrassment, the kind that comes with not knowing how to handle praise, “I didn’t do very much,” he mumbled, “You guys were the ones that defeated Gaea and the giants and stuff,”

“Bullshit. You lead us to the doors, you got the statue to Camp Half-Blood, hell, you even managed to become best friends with Reyna.”

Nico sputtered, “We’re not _best friends_ \- jeez, Grace, we’re not in kindergarten anymore.”

“You’ve done some amazing stuff, Nico,” he ignored his comment, “without asking anything in return. You deserve more than _this,”_ he gestured to the empty woods around them, “and I want to get to know you better.”

There was a sharp intake of breath, and the son of Hades seemed at a loss for words. He just stared, and there was the raw expression again, all surprise and confusion and the guy really needed a hug, probably.

“Besides,” Jason added, “Your shoulder looks worse than before- it needs professional care. It could get infected or something.”

And _that_ obviously killed whatever mood they had going on. Nico scrunched up his nose in distaste, like the idea had never occurred to him.

“I don’t need any-“

“And Hazel really wants a visit.” He tacked on quickly, “Reyna too.”

Nico’s mouth snapped shut. He closed his eyes, rubbing his temples like he felt a headache coming on. Maybe he did. After a moment or two, his eyes fluttered open, tired and defeated.

“Fine,” he said softly, letting it hang in the air and settle into Jason’s brain- he actually _accomplished_ what he came here to do. “But only for a while. I’m not staying.”

Jason couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face, “It’s a start,” he said happily.

Nico sighed. “Whatever. I’m doing it for Hazel.”

Jason shrugged, a warm giddiness settling in his stomach.

He’d done the impossible.

He’d take what he could get.

 

 


	3. up against the wall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico regarded him for a moment; Jason never knew what he was trying to find- a lie maybe? A joke? Something other than what he was saying? Whatever it was, he didn’t think Nico could find it just then. 
> 
> The son of Hades made a noncommittal grunt, “Alright."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> w h a t is dialogue

 

 

The first thing Nico did when they got to Camp Jupiter was completely ditch Jason for Hazel.

Which Jason completely understood- they hadn’t seen each other face to face in half a year (mostly Nico’s own doing, but he couldn’t blame him for being excited to see his sister). He also couldn’t blame him for rushing to see Reyna right afterwards. She was not someone you wanted to skip out on.

He was sort of tempted to follow him and join in on the conversations, but the way the son of Hades’ face lit up when Hazel hugged him told him this was strictly family business- he also knew he and Reyna thought of each other as such. He was glad, actually, that Reyna had someone like Nico as a friend, and vice versa. They both deserved as much; the war caused a lot of damage, but it also brought a lot of people together who wouldn’t have interacted otherwise.

They’d decided to visit the Roman camp first- Hazel had already returned and taken up her camp duties again- and the journey had been uneventful. And short. Very short and extremely uncomfortable; shadow travel wasn’t the nicest form of transportation, but it was simple and effective. It made you out of breath and dizzy though, disoriented and ready to throw up- it was a mystery how Nico could walk out of it completely unaffected (not _completely_ unaffected, he remembered anxiously, he _had_ almost faded away and everything).

So after almost two weeks of busy searching and preoccupation, he was left with nothing to do. He’d be lying if he said it hadn’t been nice, having something he was working towards, something he actually wanted to work towards, his own decision.

Training people was a good thing, teaching classes was a good thing; he was being useful. But it paled in comparison to saving the world or going to college or fighting monsters across the country.

Maybe he was feeling kinda left behind.

 

Piper was actually pretty happy to hear that the whole ‘find a shadow-traveling demigod who doesn’t want to be found and convince him to come back’ mission had been a success.

“It was really that easy?”

Her voice was a little distorted, her face a little misty, but that’s how it worked in an Iris Message. She was lounging on the couch in his little apartment, some cop show playing faintly in the background.

Jason shrugged, “Yeah. Pretty sure mentioning Hazel and Reyna did the trick.”

Piper smiled. “No one can say no to either of them,”

And frankly, Jason agreed. Hazel was too kind and Reyna was too… _Reyna._ She just wasn’t someone you said no to, regardless of the situation.

“Still though, I was sure you were gonna come home with at least a few bruises,” she said it seriously, but the twinkle in her eyes gave her away.

“You saying Nico would beat me in a fight?” he asked in mock offense.

Piper shrugged, “I’m just saying I saw a five foot three kid beat the hell out of a guy twice his size during capture the flag that one time.”

(That one time being the legitimate _one_ time they’d all played capture the flag together and gotten Nico to join in, a few days after the explosion in the sky that ended the war; it was both a celebration type thing and an exercise to get all their frustrations out. It was surprisingly successful).

Jason snorted, “You missed the part where yours truly knocked him off his feet,”

Piper snorted back at him, raising her head and crossing her arms, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

There was a beat, and the two stared at each other for a minute, before they laughed.

“But seriously, would Nico attack me?”

“If just mentioning his sister’s name was enough to get him back, then I doubt it.”

Jason nodded. He hadn’t mentioned the ‘I wanna get to know you better’ scene, nor did he mention the other boy’s embarrassment at being praised or the raw emotion on his face when he realized someone wanted to be his friend. He wasn’t sure why exactly, but it just felt… personal? Something he knew Nico wouldn’t want Jason to share. Those things had been shown to _him,_ and he was strangely proud of it.

Their conversation fell into a lull after he described how odd some of the street names were, and Piper said a quick goodbye before they disconnected.

It left Jason feeling strangely unsatisfied.

 

The second thing Nico did when they got to Camp Jupiter was deny that he was in any sort of pain at all.

Jason, after giving them all a reasonable enough time to catch up (also he was really bored), walked in on what seemed to be a very heated debate involving Hazel gripping Nico’s arm like it was her only anchor to the world, Nico being not very pleased with this, and a young healer standing awkwardly to the side.

“I’m _fine_ , Hazel!” Nico exclaimed as he Jason walked in, sounding exasperated, like he’d already said it a million times.

“ _This,”_ she gestured widely to the shoulder of the arm she was holding hostage, “Is not fine.”

“It _is_ fine,” Nico insisted, “And _I’m_ fine. It doesn’t even hurt!”

“Really?” Hazel asked slowly, “Are you sure?”

“Doesn’t hurt at all.”

Hazel raised an eyebrow and tugged gently, ridiculously gently, on his arm- Nico gritted his teeth and sucked in his breath.

“Doesn’t hurt at all,” he repeated, in a way that sounded like it hurt just a little bit more than he was letting on.

“Seems like it hurts a lot,” Jason spoke his thoughts out loud, drawing three heads towards him.

“Jason!” Hazel smiled, “He listens to you,” (they both ignored the boy in question’s indignant sputter), “Tell him he needs to get his stupid shoulder checked.”

Jason walked forward to stand next to Hazel, “Nico,” he started seriously, “You need to get your stupid shoulder checked.”

Nico’s expression dropped into a not-really-quite-a-glare and he tilted his head, “I do _not_ need to get my stupid shoulder checked.”

“It could get infected though, remember?”

Nico scrunched up his nose again- a childish gesture but he supposed Nico was technically still a kid of sorts, “It’s not infected,”

“Maybe not now,” Jason said nonchalantly, but his eyes were on Nico’s. He did want the kid to get proper shoulder care and stuff. He’d done a pretty good job wrapping it, but he was no expert.

Nico narrowed his eyes, and Jason wasn’t sure if he was really suspicious or not, “I’ve never had an infected wound before,”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

“Not for wound infection.”

“ _Especially_ for wound infection.”

“ _Wound infection_?” Hazel repeated, nose wrinkled up in repulsion, a little like Nico’s actually; maybe it was something they got from their father, “That’s disgusting.”

“Exactly,” Jason gestured to Hazel, “She knows how serious this is.”

Hazel’s lips lifted in amusement and she nodded, glancing back at her brother, “Very serious,” she said, not very seriously.

Nico glanced back and forth between the two of them, not ready to give up just yet. Hazel’s amusement fell into a soft pleading look (all furrowed eyebrows and big golden eyes)- that Jason was surprised she hadn’t used yet; or maybe she had, and Nico was just really good at holding out against looks that made your heart swell.

Apparently, he was not. He shifted uncomfortably under her stare, eyes darting around the room, looking anywhere but at her, and eventually settling on Jason. Nico raised his eyebrows a bit- questioning and a little anxious; but Jason had to side with Hazel on this one. He gave a small shrug and an unimpressed look when the son of Hades chose to glare at him instead.

All in all, it only took a few more minutes of heavy silence and staring for Nico to wither completely and give in.

“Fine,” he huffed, “Just quit _looking_ at me like that,”

Hazel seemed very proud of herself as she beckoned the little healer over (who looked both relieved that he could do his job and sort of scared of actually doing it).

She smiled softly at her brother, the vice-grip she had on his arm loosening a bit, and she bent down to give him a quick peck on the cheek. “You have to take better care of yourself,"

It was a few tones lower than her previous statements, gentle and slightly sad and he knew she was talking about more than just his shoulder. Nico knew it too. The annoyed (and practiced- it was too stiff) look he was trying so hard to keep up slipped off under her lips. He sighed, easing his way out of her grasp and taking her hand instead.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, just as softly, and it was another tone he’d never heard from Nico before- he wondered if the two of them had forgotten there were other people in here; the thought made Jason smile slightly.

Hazel smiled, running a hand through her brother’s messy bangs like she was afraid he would disappear again, “I know. Just… stay for a while. And visit more often, okay?”

He could see a little part of Nico getting ready to argue his way out (the little twitch of his right hand, the one messing with a hole in his jeans), but the son of Hades just nodded, giving a small smile back.

It was a nice thing, seeing Nico smile, he thought in the back of his mind. He’d hardly seen it happen.

“I will,” he agreed, “I’m sorry. Now go,” he made a shooing motion with his free hand, “you have camp duties and stuff, right?”

Hazel opened her mouth to protest but Nico shook his head, “I’ll be fine- Jason’s here right- go get your work done.”

She held his eyes for a few moments, searching for something Jason wasn’t sure of, before she sighed, “Alright,” she glanced over at Jason, “Make sure he actually gets his shoulder looked at,”

Jason nodded, not failing to notice the way Nico’s eyes darted to him for a moment before refocusing on his sister.

She ran her thumb across the back of Nico’s hand, hesitating before she finally pulled away. “See you at dinner,” she said hopefully, and Nico grunted in agreement. She shot both of them a quick wave and made her way out.

The healer- he’d honestly forgotten the other kid was in the room- cleared his throat awkwardly (Jason jumped slightly, but he’d never admit it to anyone). He was a small guy, maybe a few years younger than Jason, maybe even younger than Nico, with very red hair and a very uncomfortable posture. He wondered how long he’d been standing there waiting.

“Um, your shoulder?” he asked quietly.

Nico glanced at him apprehensively- the poor kid locked his gaze on the ground- and sighed.

“Yeah, okay,” he mumbled, lifting his arm as much as he could without hissing in pain- which really wasn’t very much. How had he gone a week and a half like this?

The healer seemed very thankful to do what he’d actually come here to do, and began working immediately. And he was surprisingly skilled for someone so young- but he supposed that was the point.

Jason sat on the edge of the bed Nico was resting on, making himself comfortable under the son of Hades’ gaze.

“You can go, if you want to,” he said quietly, biting his lip when as the wound made contact with the air- Jason was right, very right; it needed to be cleaned and rewrapped and maybe even stitched up. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

He shrugged, “Hazel told me to stay right here. And I’m not doing anything else.”

Nico regarded him for a moment; Jason never knew what he was trying to find- a lie maybe? A joke? Something other than what he was saying? Whatever it was, he didn’t think Nico could find it just then.

The son of Hades made a noncommittal grunt, “Alright,”

They fell back into a surprisingly comfortable silence- Nico’s attention drifting from the work being done on his shoulder to looking around the room to thinking about whatever is was he thought about when he was bored; Jason’s gaze flitting back and forth from the healer to Nico and back again. He thought he was probably more concerned about the whole thing than Nico was, and it was Nico’s damn arm.

Nico’s eyes screwed shut, his free hand fisting in the fabric of his jeans and he cursed under his breath.

“Sorry,” the healer kid muttered, “This part’ll hurt,”

He looked like he wanted to say something snappy, but was too caught up in keeping himself quiet to manage it.

“How’s it been so far?” Jason asked, mainly to draw Nico’s attention away from the pain.

Nico cracked his eyes open to glance at the son of Jupiter, “What?”

“Being at camp. How’s it been?”

He was about to shrug, Jason noticed, but then thought better of it, “I dunno. Fine.”

“Fine?” Jason repeated, “That’s it?”

“Do you want a detailed description or somethi-?“ he hissed sharply, “It was fine.”

“What did you do?” Jason tried again; he knew how helpful it could be to have something else to focus on.

Nico shot him an exasperated glance. Jason raised his eyebrows in expectance and he rolled his eyes.

“Saw Hazel, had lunch with Reyna, and now I’m here.” He really was great at short answers.

Jason grinned anyways, glad the other was at least making an effort, “Wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be, right?”

Nico frowned, glancing away for a moment, “…I guess not.” He said quietly, like it was extremely difficult to agree with him on something, “But we just got here.”

Jason’s grin just got wider- Nico scowled. “I said we just got here,” he repeated, but he couldn’t find any real irritation behind the words.

“Well, I’m glad you’re back.”

Nico raised his eyebrows incredulously, “You’re the one who _dragged_ me back.”

Jason raised his hands in surrender, content to have this little victory.

Stitches, they were happy to hear, weren’t necessary. Nico was let off with a newly bandaged shoulder and a stern “take it easy- I’m serious, don’t pick up that sword for at least a week,” from Reyna, who had showed up halfway through the process to make sure everything was running smoothly.

The sun was just beginning to set- the shadows of all the temples stretched far across the ground, the smell of food floated through the air from the dining pavilion and gods, was Jason hungry. He more or less pulled Nico along with him, with the reminder that he’d promised his sister he’d be there (“I was gonna come,” he insisted, even as they darted through the crowds “I don’t break promises like that,”).

He wasn’t surprised to see almost nothing on Nico’s plate when he took a seat next to him. Neither was Hazel, apparently, who shot him a look that had him up and piling more onto it with a quick, “Fine.”

Not for the first time, Jason was glad Nico had his sister looking out for him.

“How’s Camp Half-Blood holding up?” Hazel asked, even though she’d been there like two weeks ago.

“Same as ever, I guess. Lots of kids, lots of classes.”

“You teach classes?” Nico asked hesitantly.

Jason worked to keep his grin on the down low, “Yeah, Chiron asked me to a while ago. Sword fighting, mostly. It’s fun and all, but it can get kind of repetitive,”

Nico hummed in response, popping a grape into his mouth.

“Speaking of repetition,” Jason said after a bite or two, “Piper was thinkin’ about having you guys over for dinner again,”

Hazel’s eyes lit up at the thought, but she smiled apologetically, “I don’t know when I’ll get the time to again,” she said hesitantly. Then she lit up again, as quickly as she had dimmed, “But hey, Nico could go. He hasn’t been over there in a while.”

The son of Hades stilled, fork frozen in midair. “I was just over there.” he protested quickly.

“Getting your shoulder sliced, yeah, but you haven’t been to Camp or seen Piper yet,”

Jason resisted the urge to nudge Nico’s shoulder; he didn’t want a bruise to show Piper. “It’ll be fun,”

The younger demigod shot him an icy glare, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Are you sure you wanna show up with _me_ instead of all your friends?”

“You’re our friend too,” he reminded him. Nico didn’t seem convinced. And then there was that look again- he wondered what the kid trying to find.

Eventually though, the son of Hades turned his attention back to his plate, “Sure,” Jason barely caught it, but it was there. And then there was that oddly giddy feeling he was starting to like. 

He smiled.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh i'm not exactly thrilled with the way this chapter turned out or the pace it's going at but???


	4. can't take them on my own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "For a moment, he just watched Nico look over everything (comfortably worn furniture, blue walls he and Piper had painted together, a few pictures, etc.). For some reason, he really wanted the son of Hades to be maybe not impressed really, but to like it, to think it was nice, someplace he might want to stay awhile. To maybe feel at home in, after a while. 
> 
> He knew he was getting ahead of himself, and he wasn’t sure what to do with that thought."

 

They left the evening of the day after the next. 

Nico had probably wanted to stay longer, but he said something about ‘getting the whole dinner thing over with’, and Hazel agreed- with different wording, something along the lines of ‘getting to know people’ and ‘making friends’ and ‘coming to visit again soon’. 

Nico didn’t seem convinced, but he didn’t really _disagree._ Just sort of absently shrugged his shoulders. It was almost scary how easily Hazel could talk him into things.  

“I don’t wanna go back to Camp Half-Blood.” Nico said suddenly. They were off of camp grounds, walking until he would decide to shadow-travel, probably. (It wasn’t something Jason was looking forward to, honestly.)

“Okay.” Jason said simply, keeping his voice light.

Nico looked at him suspiciously, like he didn’t quite believe him— which yeah okay he kind of got, he _had_ dragged him back to Camp Jupiter and was sort of dragging him to his apartment too, but he wouldn’t make him do anything he _really_ didn’t want to, like see Percy again, probably. As far as he knew, they hadn’t talked since Nico’s spur-of-the-moment confession, and the kid didn’t seem all that eager to try. 

So Jason wouldn’t pressure him. Because he’d used Hazel against him (to get him to _come home_ \- it was a noble cause), and than she’d used her power over him to get him to visit. He’d been forced into a few things he didn’t want to do (though Jason wasn’t entirely sure that was really the case with camp, or at least with Hazel; he’d looked so happy talking to her again), so he’d go easy on him.

He didn’t want to scare him off again. If there was one thing he needed, it was to learn that he didn’t have to run off on his own all the time. That there were people who wanted him around. 

The son of Hades stopped suddenly. There was nothing particularly special about this little bit of ground, as far as Jason could see, but he usually traveled by car or pegasus or on foot. 

Nico lifted his uninjured arm, pulled it back, hesitated, and reached out awkwardly. 

(For a split second, Jason thought he wanted him to hold his hand or something, and was completely at a loss. Than he remembered the whole shadow-travel thing and— yeah.) 

He took the cold cold hand in his own, closed his eyes, and then the ground disappeared from under him.

 

They stumbled out of the shadows in an alley a few blocks away from a McDonalds.

Jason would’ve asked why this place in particular, but he was too busy catching his breath and waiting for the world to stop spinning. 

“You get used to it in time,” he heard Nico say quietly, and offered a weak smile.

“Let’s hope it’s sooner than later.”

Nico shrugged.

 

Everything was oddly quiet as Jason led them the too-many blocks to the apartment. It was a modestly sized building, nothing too classy- but not shady or shabby either. It wasn’t too big, or too small; out of the way, but not isolated— that’s why Jason liked it so much. It was just the right amount of everything.

He’d IM-ed Piper in advance, just to be on the safe side. He didn’t want things to be any more awkward than he expected them to be. Surprisingly, she didn’t seem all that surprised or all that uncomfortable with the idea, and for that, Jason was grateful. 

One of the ladies who lived on the bottom floor- a business woman of sorts who Piper had talked to once or twice- smiled at him when they stepped into the elevator. She raised a finely-plucked eyebrow at Nico, who raised an eyebrow in return, looking so decidedly unimpressed that Jason was sort of impressed with that ability alone.

“So,” he said, once they’d gotten off the elevator (the amount of tension possible in such a small space was ridiculous), standing in front of the apartment door; he opened it- slowly, for dramatic effect, “Home sweet home, and all that.” 

Nico stepped through the threshold carefully, like he was testing for a trap or a trick of some kind, glancing around as if taking in as much detail as possible. Jason followed, shutting the door softly behind him. 

For a moment, he just watched Nico look over everything (comfortably worn furniture, blue walls he and Piper had painted together, a few pictures, etc.). For some reason, he really wanted the son of Hades to be maybe not impressed really, but to like it, to think it was nice, someplace he might want to stay awhile. To maybe feel at home in, after a while.  

He knew he was getting ahead of himself, and he wasn’t sure what to do with that thought. 

“Jason?” Piper called, probably from the kitchen, “That you?”

“Yeah,” he called back, and, after a moment, “Nico’s here too.” 

There was the sound of shuffling, of a something being set down, of cabinets shutting, and then Piper appeared at the end of the short hallway, looking unfairly pretty in sweatpants and messy hair. 

She smiled in greeting, and glanced at their guest. Jason didn’t have to look to feel Nico tense up beside him.

“Hey, Nico. Good to see you again.”

“Um- yeah, hi.” Nico said, fiddling with his ring, “Good to see you too.” 

Piper smiled again, and gestured for them to follow her back to the kitchen. 

She leaned on the table, hands bracing her for support, and sighed. 

“So, I was gonna make dinner. I wanted to finally try ravioli,” (Jason wondered vaguely if that was for Nico’s sake, the whole Italian thing, and almost laughed at the thought); she smiled sheepishly, “But it didn’t really work out. Almost dropped all of it on the floor. So I was thinking probably take-out instead. Chinese, maybe?” 

She glanced at them questioningly.

“Chinese sounds really good, actually,” Jason said, grinning, “A lot better than dusty ravioli.”

Piper rolled her eyes, but he could see her hiding a smile, “The floor is _not_ dusty, first of all. I cleaned it, like, last week. And second of all, I doubt you can make ravioli any better than I can— which is not at all.”

Jason scoffed half-heartedly in return, leaning again the fridge. 

Piper glanced at Nico, “Chinese sound good to you too?”she asked. 

Nico blinked, and it was almost painfully obvious how surprised he was at being acknowledged, let alone asked. 

“Yeah,” he said after a moment, “Sure. That sounds- fine, yeah.” 

Piper smiled again, that small, understanding smile. “I’ll go call and order. Make yourself at home.” 

 

They ordered a little more food than usual, because they were feeding another person (though Jason doubted Nico would eat very much— he really needed to break that habit; no matter how used to it he might be, it wasn’t healthy), and the smell of (American) Chinese food filled the apartment. 

(Jason hadn’t realized how hungry he was).

Instead of sitting on the couch, they sat at the little table in the dining room, like they always did when they had company that wasn’t Percy, who preferred sprawling out with his food in his lap when Annabeth wasn’t there to tell him otherwise. 

Jason and Piper both piled their plates high. Nico’s was almost pathetically bare, not even half-full. Jason fixed that with a simple raise of his eyebrows (Nico scowled at him and then scowled at the plate and then scowled at the food he reached for and sent him an _I wish you hadn’t picked that up from Hazel stop babying me_ look), and was unreasonably proud of himself. 

“How’ve you been, Nico?” Piper asked after a few minutes of comfortably (for Jason, at least) eating (Nico was mainly just picking at his food). 

Nico did that surprised blink thing again, and glanced back down at his plate.

“Fine.” he replied, though it sounded more like a question than a statement. 

“Where’ve you been the past few months? Done anything cool, gone on any adventures without us?” Piper persisted, sounding genuinely curious. 

Nico shrugged, looking increasingly more uncomfortable with each passing minute. 

“Around. Running errands for my father, mostly.” he said carefully, and he kept glancing up like he was waiting for one of them to stop him or look at him weird or give him an excuse to stop talking or leave altogether, “Since the war ended, things’ve been pretty hectic down there, and there are still a bunch of monster that got out when the Doors were open that haven’t been found yet.” 

Piper nodded, twisting some noodles around her fork, “Anything too bad?” 

Nico shrugged again, pushing a piece of chicken back and forth on his plate. “Not really.”

“How’s your shoulder?”

The son of Hades glanced at Jason, and then at Piper, and than at Jason again, like he was surprised he told her about it- or surprised that she’d care enough to ask about it, either one. He put his fork down to rub said shoulder almost automatically, protectively. 

“It’s fine.” he said, “It’ll be fine.” 

“I’m glad.” Piper said softly, “Don’t wear yourself out.” 

Nico didn’t meet her eyes. 

“What about you?” she asked, turning to Jason, “See anything cool on your amazing journey through the city?” 

Jason smiled, and told her about the monsters and some more of the street names, and about Nico’s strange affinity for McDonalds that he’d noticed (Nico frowned and muttered something about how it wasn’t an _affinity_ it was just convenient and cheap, _gods_ ) and Hazel and Reyna and how Camp Jupiter was holding up. 

There was lull in the conversation as they (Jason and Piper; Nico had eaten about half the food on his plate at most) finished off the food. 

“Y’know,” Piper broke the silence, “if you don’t wanna stay at camp, you can stay here for a few days. We have a pull-out couch; it’s surprisingly comfortable.”

Whatever partially relaxed state Nico had drifted into was gone in a moment, and he looked as still and nervous as he had when he’d told them about the Doors back on the ship. He shook his head, sharp jerky movements.

“No, I-“ he paused, “I shouldn’t. It’s fine. Thank you for the offer, but.” 

“You won’t be any trouble.” Piper assured. “Besides, I’m making waffles in the morning. And Hazel would never forgive me if I just let you sleep in a park or something.”

As soon as she mentioned Hazel, Jason knew the deal was sealed. He knew Nico knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to IM his sister. 

He looked like someone backed into a corner with no choice but to surrender instead of someone being offered a place to crash for a while. 

“Please?” Jason added after the anxious silence stretched on for a bit too long. 

Nico gave a long suffering sigh and ran a hand through his messy hair. 

“Fine,” he muttered, sounding defeated, “But just for a few days.” 

Piper smiled. 

“I’ll go set up the couch.” Jason said. 

   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i guess it's 'update my stories' month. i wasn't sure if i would continue this- i'm not sure where i'm going with it, and it's turning out longer than i expected (which is to be expected lmao), and jason's pov is ridiculously hard for me??? idk man. but yeah. 
> 
> i needed some piper n nico bonding too, it's v important to me
> 
> also Happy Halloween!!!!! I'm _pumped_!! Have fun and be safe!!


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